The Relaunching of Euskaltzaindia (1937-1941): from the Ministry of National Education’S Omission to the Board of Culture of Bizkaia’S Imposition
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!165 The relaunching of Euskaltzaindia (1937-1941): from the Ministry of National Education’s omission to the Board of Culture of Bizkaia’s imposition Anton Ugarte Doctorando. UPV/EHU Resumen El relanzamiento de Euskaltzaindia (1937-1941): desde el olvido del Ministerio de Educación Nacional a la imposición de la Junta de Cultura de Bizkaia Tras la finalización de la Guerra Civil española, Euskaltzaindia se restableció con la autorización de la Junta de Cultura de Bizkaia. Tanto el presidente de Euskaltzaindia, Resurrección María Azkue, como el académico Julio Urquijo participaron en dos importantes instituciones de la cultura franquista: el Instituto de España y and la Real Academia Española. En 1941 recibieron autorización para relanzar Euskaltzaindia, con los siguientes requisitos: los miembros en Francia no serían convocados, los miembros en el exilio serían reemplazados, y los nuevos miembros serían nacionalistas españoles. Palabras claves: Euskaltzaindia. Resurrección María Azkue, Instituto de España, Real Academia Española, Dictadura de Francisco Franco, Ministerio de Educación Nacional, Junta de Cultura de Bizkaia, Lengua vasca. Euskaltzaindia berrabiaturik (1937-1941): Hezkuntza Ministerio Nazionalak ahazturik izatetik Bizkaiko Kultura Bartzordearen inposaketarainoko bidea. Abstract After the Spanish Civil War ended, Euskaltzaindia was restarted with the authorisation of the Board of Culture of Bizkaia. The president of Euskaltzaindia, Resurrección María Azkue, and the academician Julio Urquijo participated in two important Francoist cultural institutions: the Institute of Spain and the Royal Spanish Academy. In 1941 they would receive authorization to restart Euskaltzaindia, providing that the following requirements were observed: members from France would not be summoned, members in exile would be replaced, and the new members would be Spanish nationalists. Key words: Euskaltzaindia, Resurrección María Azkue, Institute of Spain, Royal Spanish Academy, Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, Ministry of National Education, Board of Culture of Bizkaia, Basque language. Laburpena Espainiako Gerra Zibila amaiturik, Euskaltzaindia Bizkaiko Kultura Batzordeak emandako baimenaz berrabiatu zen. Hala Erresurrezio Maria Azkue nola Julio Urkixo euskaltzainak, biek ere, kultura frankistako erakunde handi bitan parte hartu zuten; hain zuzen ere, Institutu Espainolean eta Akademia Espainolean. 1941ean Euskaltzaindia berrabiatzeko baimena eman zitzaien, zenbait beharkizun jarrita: Frantzia aldeko kideak ez deitzea batzarretarako, erbestean ziren euskaltzainen ordezkoak jartzea eta kide berriak nazionalista espainolak izatea. Gako-hitzak: Euskaltzaindia, Erresurrezio Maria Azkue, Espainiako Institutua, Espainiako Errege Akademia, Francisco Francoren Diktadura, Hezkuntza Ministerio Nazionala, Bizkaiko Kultura Batzordea, Euskara. Hartua-recibido: 9-I-2014- Onartua-aceptado: 30-XI-2015 BIDEBARRIETA 26 / 2016 !166 1. Euskaltzaindia during the Spanish Second Republic Until the military rebels tried a coup d'état in July 1936, Euskaltzaindia, the Academy of the Basque Language, had regular academic activity. Although the minutes were not published, if we read the treasury's expenses, we will see that Euskaltzaindia made its usual double plenary sessions from January until June 1936. Nine numerary members, two corresponding members, and the deputy secretary took part in these sessions: R. M. Azkue, J. Urquijo, J. B. Egusquiza, R. Olabide, R. Inzagaray, S. Altube, D. de Inza, G. Lacombe, B. Echegaray, N. Ormaechea, J. Gorostiaga and G. Maidagán.1 The Civil War stopped the academic bulletin Euskera from being published, so there are no official minutes of this period. The minutes were written by the secretary and priest R. Inzagaray, but his book was confiscated by falangists in Donostia-San Sebastián (Torrealdai and Murua Uria, 2009, 51). In the Archive of Euskaltzaindia, there are two copies of R. Inzagaray's minutes from 1936, which had not been officially approved. According to those minutes from January and February, the normative Spanish-Basque dictionary was the main theme of discussion, and some members read related reports or notes.2 Other than the dictionary, two important projects were held by members of Euskaltzaindia. In the inspiring days of the Second Republic and the possible Statutes of Autonomy, the personal efforts of two of its members were the most outstanding. On one side, Resurrección María Azkue had presented his Gipuzkera osotua (1935). Euskaltzaindia since its foundation in 1919 had the mission of elaborating a standard Basque, but had failed so far, especially because among those who were most interested in creating a literary standard, Basque nationalists, the authority of the Academy was questioned. The president of Euskaltzaindia's «perfectioned Gipuzkoan dialect» was the last attempt to skip the influence that the Basque nationalists had in Bizkaia, and create a more natural standard based on the main dialect from the province of Gipuzkoa. Following the same tendence, but with a more sociological approach, Severo Altube published La vida del euskera (1934). Although he was a member of the Basque Nationalist Party, S. Altube was aware of the fact that Basque nationalists' linguistic criteria were scientifically questionable, and he tried to apply the modern French school of linguistics (A. Meillet, J. Vendryes, A. Dauzat) to the problematic case of Basque. In the opinion of the treasurer of Euskaltzaindia, extreme linguistic purism, instead of stopping the recession of Basque, was actually aggravating it. He championed popular Basque, including the interferences of Spanish, in order to attract readers to the Basque literature. This criticism of the last fourty years of literary production did not go unnoticed, and he was harshly attacked by disciples of Sabino Arana's school of thought. In fact, the monographic content of the last Euskera bulletin published before the Civil War was a long response to these attacks: Más sobre la vida del euskera (1936). From the start of the Civil War up until 1941, Euskaltzaindia did not hold any academic sessions, but the headquarters in Bilbao remained open, under the conditions that the circumstances allowed. R. M. Azkue, after the military rebels occupied Bilbao in the summer of 1937, left his hometown of Lekeitio, and continued working every day at the office on Ribera street. Also the Basque Academy's staff of workers collected their salaries from 1936 to 1940: the deputy secretary G. Maidagán, the cleaning lady, and the clerks.3 The president also collected his pay on May 8, 1937.4 In the years 1936 and 1937, the library of the Academy only purchased the dialectological dictionary of the catalanist abjurer A. Griera (1935-1936), the Official Bulletin of Euskadi (Euzkadi'ko Agintaritzaren Egunerokoa) and the volumes of the Geografía general del País Vasco-Navarro (1911-1925).5 There were no more purchases in the following years, for sheer lack of money. The purchase of the Official Bulletin was indeed an assumption of the authority of the autonomous Basque Government, but during its location in Bilbao, the Basque Government did not assign any budget to Euskaltzaindia and did not incorporate the Academy to its institutional structure. What is more, the president R. M. Azkue would seek economic help from the Bizkaian royalists, after the autonomous Euskadi was dismantled. The expenses and maintenance bills from 1937-1940 were paid, because the francoist Government in Burgos waived half of the rental fees by a decree on May 28, 1937, and because the royalist businessman Antonio Arteche secured economic support.6 1 EUS-EUS, Euskaltzaindia's expenses of 1936 2 EUS-EUS, Euskaltzaindiar's non-approved minutes, 1936-01-28/29 and 1936-02-27/28. 3 EUS-EUS, Euskaltzaindia's workers' payments, 1936-1940. 4 EUS-EUS, Euskaltzaindia's liquidation of expenses, 1937. 5 EUS-EUS, Euskaltzaindia's purchse of journals and books, 1936-1937 6 EUS-EUS, Euskaltzaindia's expenses and maintenance bills, 1936-1940. A. Arteche Villabaso (1880-1962) had been a Spanish congressman during 1905-1923, and king Alfonso XIII named him Marquis of Buniel in 1916. He was a member of a wealthy family related to the Banco de Bilbao management (Agirreazkuenaga et al., 2007, 496-500). BIDEBARRIETA 26 / 2016 !167 2. The Department of Culture of the Basque Government What happened for Euskaltzaindia not to be banned by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco? Following the example of Catalonia, the Department of Culture («Euzkadi’ko Gogo-lantze Zaingoa» in its official Basque form) headed by J. M. Leizaola, took many measures in favour of the Basque language and culture, but most of them could not be developed because of the war situation. The Department prominently followed the example set by Eusko Ikaskuntza (Basque Studies Society, created in 1918 by the four Basque and Navarrese Provincial Councils) as a high culture institution. In fact, members of the board of Eusko Ikaskuntza such as A. Apraiz or B. Echegaray were very active in autonomous institutions like the Culture Commission of Euskadi («Euzkadi’ko Gogo-lantze Batzordea») and the Basque University («Euzko Irakastola Nagusia»). Bonifacio Echegaray was also a numerary member of Euskaltzaindia since 1926. As previously mentioned, Eusko Ikaskuntza was the role model for the Department of Culture, specially because of its historical work to achieve a public university and political autonomy for the Basque Country (Estornés Zubizarreta, 1983) (Aizpuru, 2012).